Lucas Papademos, the head of Greece's coalition government, has given up his salary, foreign media quoted him as saying on Thursday.

Speaking to German journalists following a meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels on Wednesday, Papademos said he gave up his salary as soon as he took over as provisional prime minister more than three months ago.

Many Greeks have been badly hit by austerity measures demanded by the debt-wracked nation's foreign lenders. The unemployment rate hovers over 20 percent.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias gave up his own salary last month in a “symbolic act of solidarity” with ordinary people.